


decoded

by OfAllTheStarsAligned



Category: RWBY
Genre: Post V7E8, V7E8 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21910987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfAllTheStarsAligned/pseuds/OfAllTheStarsAligned
Summary: Weiss returns to Atlas with the footage she received from her mother. She asks Pietro about the mysterious man talking to her father.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 17





	decoded

Scroll in hand, Weiss stepped into Pietro’s workshop, her heels  _ clicking _ against the tile floor. Pietro sat at his desk, seemingly working on something on his computer. He was enveloped in his work, not noticing Weiss at all.

_ He’s probably still working on figuring out who doctored that footage of Penny,  _ Weiss thought to herself as the door closed quietly behind her.

“Dr. Polendina?” Weiss said, trying not to startle him.

Pietro looked up and readjusted his glasses with a warm smile, “Why, Ms. Schnee, I wasn’t expecting you.”

He moved out from behind his desk to meet her, “What can I do for you?”

Weiss opened her Scroll, “My mother gave me this video she recorded, it’s my father talking to someone… about General Ironwood.”

“Oh?” Pietro said simply with his eyebrows raised as Weiss opened the video.

The video opened on the screen and Weiss tapped it, causing it to play. Pietro shifted his glasses as the video played before him.

In the video, Jacques was drinking alone in his office, then Whitley knocked and opened the door. Weiss cringed slightly when he shouted at Whitley. The mystery man, who she knew her father called Arthur, stepped into the room. Weiss squinted at him, still unsure how her father knows him, and if he’s supposed to be dead, how is he here? Why did he look so  _ familiar _ to her?

A soft gasp from her side. Weiss turned her head and Pietro stared at the video in shock.

“Dr. Polendina?” she asked gently.

“....Arthur?” Pietro whispered, his voice laced with shock and heartbreak.

Weiss paused the video as she placed her hand onto Pietro’s shoulder. “You know him?”

Pietro coughed for a moment. “Yes… he was one of the scientists I used to work with.”

He patted Weiss’s hand with his own, before he moved away. Mechanical chair legs whirred at he went back to his desk and picked up the photograph on his desk. Weiss followed him, peering over his shoulder to look at the picture. 

Pietro’s thumb was next to the man in the yellow sweater who bore a striking resemblance to Arthur.

“Doctor Arthur Watts,” Pietro said as he looked at the photo. “He was one of my partners, and one of the scientists the General challenged, back when he was looking for new defense technology.”

“So, he helped you make Penny?”

“Oh, no, no,” Pietro sighed, “after his own proposal was turned down, he was upset. He went on to continue working on it in his own time and…” Pietro paused, beginning to cough again.

Weiss frowned, recalling how her father said Arthur was supposed to be dead.

After a few moments of breath, Pietro continued, “He was working on his project in his lab. There were  _ so _ many dust crystals there. No one is quite sure what happened, but there was a massive explosion. It incinerated almost everything there and,” Pietro took a wavering breath, “his body was never found.”

Weiss frowned and pressed play on the video again, letting it finish out.

**_“However, I’ve heard things about you too, Jacques. Namely, that you have an_ _Ironwood_ _problem.”_ **

“He rigged the election,” Weiss said, “and he mentioned Tyrian, who we know works for Salem. So, he…”

She stopped, not wanting to finish the sentence and upset Pietro too much.

Pietro put his face into his hands, letting out small sobs. “Oh Arthur, what did you do?”

Weiss frowned and gently rubbed his back, “I’m sorry.”

His face slowly lifted from his hands, “It all makes sense now. That’s how they’re able to hack Atlas technology so well, it’s him.”

Pietro sniffled and wiped his tears, “Arthur wrote the code for the security system in Mantle, that’s how… that’s how  _ he _ was able to doctor that footage of Penny.”

Weiss stared at him in shock as she moved her hand to his shoulder, “And he was the one who hacked everything at Beacon?”

“That would be my best guess,” Pietro said, coughing, “You need to let General Ironwood know about this immediately.”

“I will, are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be just fine, Ms. Schnee. Thank you,” Pietro said with a soft smile, lightly patting her hand on his shoulder, “Now that I know it’s Arthur, I should be able to have more luck looking for proof that the footage was doctored. We’ll have my girl in the clear soon enough.”

Weiss nodded, “Good luck, I’m going to tell Ironwood, and everyone else, now.”

Pietro smiled and placed the photo back on his desk as Weiss turned on her heel and left the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate all comments and kudos!


End file.
